Staple remover



y 1952 w. G. PANKONIN 2,596,719

STAPLE REMOVER Original Filed Sept. 2, 1949 INVENTOR.

ATTOWY Patented May 13, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE- 2,596,719STAPLE REMOVER William G. Pankonin, Chicago, Ill.

Original application September 2, 1949, Serial No.

113,849. Divided and this application Novena,- ber 13, 1950, Serial No.195,277

2 Claims. (Cl. 254-28) This invention relates to improvements in toolsfor removing sheet-binding staples from sheets of paper or othermaterial which have previously been secured together by the staples.This application is a division of the application of applicant herein,Ser. No. 113,849, filed September 2, 1949 for Staple Remover. A tool ofthis type is described and claimed in Patent No. 2,033,050,, issued toWilliam G. Pankonin on March 3; 1936. While the staple remover thereindescribed operates satisfactorily, it will efficiently remove onlystaples of the one size of crown for which it was designed and will notefficiently remove staples the crowns of which are smaller than that forwhich the remover was originally designed.

It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a device whichwill readily remove staples having a variety of widths at the crown.

Another object of this invention is to provide a device of thischaracter which is simple in construction, low in cost of manufacture,and quick and reliable in operation.

In the removal of staples from material where the legs have beenclinched or bent over under the material, it is necessary to provide asolid surface which during withdrawal of the staple bears against theinner side of each leg and straightens each leg enough to preventsubstantial damage to such material. The surface for each leg must beclosely adjacent such leg to be effective in a practical manner. Theforegoing objects are obtained by making the relative po-' sitions ofeach surface selectable so that such surface will be close to itsrespective leg even though the distance between legs varies withdifferent size staples. In this modification there are several of suchsurfaces spaced at varied distances so that those properly spaced forthe particular size staple may be used.

The novel features, which are considered characteristic of theinvention, are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. Theinvention itself, however, both as to its organization and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbest be understood from the following description of a specificembodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, inwhich: I

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a stapleremoving device embodyingthe present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 showing therelative positioning of the staple-engaging teeth as they are about-toengage a staple with a relatively small or' narrower than standardcrown;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 2- -2 of Fig. 1 showing thestaple-engaging teeth after they have substantially removed such stapleFig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 22 of Fig. 1 showing thestaple-engaging teeth as they are about to enter under a staple'withrela tively large or standard crown; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line-2-2 of Fig. 1 of thestaple-engaging teeth after substantially removing such staple.

Referring to the drawings by reference numerals, all modifications ofthe staple remover have opposed cooperable jaws I0 and I2 which arepivoted at [4 so that they may be swung toward each other under theinfluence of manual force applied to handles it and I8 and swung apartby a spring (not shown). Each jaw has teeth with upper and lower cammingsurfaces enlarging outwardly from their intersection or point of thetooth. In the modification herein described, as the jaws are broughttogether, such camming surfaces operate in the manner de-.-

scribed in the aforesaid patent and reference is made thereto for a fulland complete description of such action.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive, the jaw 12 has two teeth 50 and thejaw H) has three teeth 52, all of which are laterally fixedly spaced.The outside teeth 52 are spaced from the middle tooth 52 so that a pairthereof comprising the middle tooth and one of the outer teeth willenter under the crown and be close to the inside of the legs of a staplewith a relatively small or narrower than standard crown. The two outsideteeth are spaced at such a distance that they will enter under the crownand be close to the inside of the legs of a staple with a relativelylarge or standard crown. The teeth 50 on the jaw l2 are spaced withrespect to the teeth 52 so that each one will enter in between adjacentones of the teeth 52 and leave enough space between each tooth 50 andthe middle tooth 52 to accommodate the leg of a staple therebetween.Thus when the remover of this modification is used to remove a staple Swith a relatively small or narrower than standard crown, the jaws l0 andI2 are placed on opposite sides of the bridge of the staple as shown inFigs. 1 and 2 and the outer sides and lower camming surfaces of themiddle tooth 52 and one of the outer teeth 52 will provide surfaceswhich bear against the inside of the staple legs to straighten said legsas the staple is removed. One of the teeth 50 will act upon the staplecrown and the other tooth 50 will lie outside the legs of such stapleduring removal thereof as the jaws l and 12 are brought together in themanner substantially as described in the aforesaid patent. A staple Lwith a relatively large or standard crown is removed by placing the jawsl0 and 12 on opposite sides of the bridge as shown in Figs. 1 and 4 andas the jaws are brought together the outer sides and lower cam-' mingsurfaces of the outermost teeth 52 will provide surfaces which bearagainst the inside of the legs to straighten them during removal thereofin the manner described in such patent. In such case the middle tooth 52has no material effect. Hence the device of this modification canefiiciently and readily remove staples with smaller than standard crownsas well as staples with standard crowns.

Although only one embodiment of the invention-is shown and describedherein, it will be understood that this application is intended to coversuch other changes or modifications as come within the spirit of theinvention or scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a staple remover having cooperable jaws provided with spaced teethinsertable beneath the crown and between the legs of a sheet-bindingstaple and relatively movable into overlapping relation to remove saidstaple. one of said jaws having a plurality of teeth spaced laterally sothat two adjacent teeth enter in between the legs of a staple having arelatively small or narrower than standard crown and three adjacentteeth enter in between the legs of a staple having a relatively large orstandard crown, the other of said jaws having a pair of teeth one ofwhich is cooperable with said two adjacent teeth and both of which arecooperable with said three adjacent teeth.

2. In a staple remover having coo'perable jaws provided with spacedteeth insertable beneath the crown and between the legs of a sheet-bindistaple and relatively movable into overlapping relation to remove saidstaple, one of said jaws having three laterally fixedly spaced teeth andthe other of said jaws having two laterally spaced teeth so alined withsaid three spaced teeth that various combinations of the teeth onopposite jaws may be utilized to remove staples of varying size crowns.

WILLIAM G. PANKONIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number

